She's Here!

Megan wakes me up around 3AM telling me she's been having regular contractions for a couple of hours now.  Remember, this is about 2 weeks before her due date (9/16).  We lay in bed until around 5AM using her iPhone app to record the frequency and duration of the contractions.  Finally, after much debating, we decide it's time to go to the hospital.  I give my mom an early wakeup call to come over so that Stella can sleep and then go back to their house.  After mom got to our house around 5:30AM, we went to the hospital where we played the "admitted or go home" game.  I managed to capture Megan's enthusiasm for this quite well (picture on the right).  We were there for at least 2 hours until they decided that we would be admitted and we were going to have this baby!

Megan was given an epidural (one of her first requests), but there was a complication with the execution of said epidural.  The anesthesiologist made a mistake where too much spinal fluid would be slowly leaking out and would almost definitely cause her to have a spinal headache.  While most people see the anesthesiologist once or twice, she became our best friend checking in very regularly to see if there is any way she could make Megan more comfortable.  They gave her additional drugs to combat the headache and suggested to lay as flat as possible.  Sure enough, within a few hours, Megan started to have neck and headache pain (which we go on for about another day).

Besides the spinal headache snag, everything else went pretty smooth and we were blessed with Charlotte Jane (Charley)'s entrance into the world at 5:28PM.  She weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 20.5" long.

Later that evening, my parents brought Stella up to the hospital and she got to finally meet her little sister (something we were all really excited about).

She was so proud and happy!  I meant to take more video, but I did manage to capture when they first saw each other and Stella proclaimed her as "my baby":

Stellar Space Box

Before we left the hospital, out pediatrician told us that Stella's bilirubin levels were kind of high which is an indication of jaundice.  They weren't too high, but because she is a slightly higher risk due to being a little early, having a different blood type than mom, and a few other factors, the doctor ordered here to be on a bilibed which gives her UV treatment to help with breaking down the bilirubin.  The picture on the right shows her in the bilibed that I rigged up in her crib.

Unfortunately, at her pediatricians's appointment the next day, her bilirubin levels had not gotten any better.  In fact, they had significantly increased, so they admitted us to Children's Mercy.  So, yes, after three nights at the hospital for her delivery, we are back at the hospital :(.  However, this is the best place to treat these issues, because she can stay in a special incubator where she gets UV treatment around the clock on all sides except for when Megan feeds her.  Here she is in her futuristic incubator and sweet goggles:

Different closeup perspective:

After about 24 hours, her bilirubin levels went back down to a manageable level and we were cleared to go home.  I definitely received some hardcore training in bottle feeding (to supplement Megan's feeding) and diaper changing inside of a little box.  Now, feeding and changing outside of the box seems like a breeze when compared.

Homecoming

Today, we brought Stella home.  Megan spent quite a bit of time finding just the right outfit to bring her home in.  Here she is in her leopard dress, cardigan, and tights before we left the hospital:

And here's the whole family after we got her home:

Can you tell that we only got 1 or 2 hours of sleep the past 2 nights??

Welcome Stella Sorrell!

6:15PM - 8 lb 0.5 oz - 20 in.  Too busy and tired right now to further document the arrival of our perfect daughter.  I've got some pictures now though in the mean time.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

Here's a quick gallery of all the photos off of my camera:



For non-flash folks (Megan's Mom's iPad):

Welcome Stella!

Hospital Bound

Due to unforeseen complications, the doctors decided to induce Megan early (her due date is 10/29/2011).  We are supposed to go to the hospital tonight so they can start the whole induction process.  Megan's mom and my mom came up, and we decided to snap some quick pictures before we went to the hospital.  Here's a good profile of the bump:

And here I am playing the congas: